What Would You Change or Repeat From 2024?
Recently I read a question in the January 2025 edition of Costco Connection1 that was similar to the one I asked last week about your holiday season this year. I was delighted to see the question, but even more delighted to see some of the answers. It seems that you and I are not the only ones thinking about happiness and well-being! ;)
Here is the question that was posed and the answers that Costco chose to highlight:
What would your answer to this question be?
Take a moment to think back on 2024 and see if anything stands out for you. When I did this exercise, I had lots of things I’d like to repeat (e.g., visiting family, making lots of music, volunteering at hospice) but there were very few things that I would change.
2024 was a good year overall for me, but I do credit my happiness “work” (essentially what I talk about here at Primrose Ponderings) for my outlook being more positive than it would have been if I’d asked myself this question in years past.
If you’re finding that you are focused more on wanting changes vs. wanting to repeat experiences and events, perhaps it was a rough year for you; but whether it was or not, I’d suggest keeping up with your own happiness “work.” I feel confident that doing this work will help you see positive gains to your outlook in the future, even during the rough years.
I enjoyed reading the answers from Costco shoppers and while all of the answers are interesting, not all of them would help the respondent in their quest for greater happiness and/or well-being. I realize that happiness and/or well-being was most likely not Costco’s focus when they chose the answers, but exploring these answers might help us to understand how to write better ones ourselves.
The first thing I noticed was that, whether we’re considering something we want to repeat or something we want to change, our statement(s) needs to be actionable.
Here are some of the actionable statements from the list:
“I would repeat my time spent cuddling my puppy.”
“I’d love to repeat the long visit with my son and grandson.”
“I would continue keeping in contact with my long-distance family and friends.”
“I’d like to repeat the trip to Kauai.”
These answers happen to be positive and they are straightforward examples of actions that could lead to continued happiness in the upcoming year.
The following statements are also positive, but, from a happiness standpoint, they could use a bit more specificity to be actionable:
“I would change my prioritization of … the people that who matter.”
“I want to continue to enjoy my job.”
“I’d like to spend less time worrying about things that are out of my control.”
“I’d like to repeat making many new friends.”
To create actionable statements, the respondents would need to answer “how,” “what,” or “why” questions. For example, if I were coaching someone with these answers, I would ask them to explain:
How would you change the prioritization of people who matter?
What did you enjoy about your job in 2024 and how can you bring that forward into 2025?
What actions would lead you to worry less about things that are out of your control?
How did you make friends in 2024? Would this work again in 2025? If not, what else might work?
For the respondents who began with an event they’d like to change, there is a way to turn a potentially negative into a positive. Again, we can do this by asking how to not repeat it in the future. Let’s explore more answers and see if we can find a statement that would better help the respondents, if they wanted to focus on increasing their happiness and/or well-being. Here are the statements I’d like to examine:
“I’d be happy to not go through the time changes ever again.”
“One thing I would change is definitely the job I took this year—I would have made a different choice.”
“I’d like to not miss any book club meetings.”
“I would like to not get COVID (I had it twice in 2024!).”
Let’s explore these one by one:
“I’d be happy to not go through the time changes ever again.”
Here I assume the person means that they don’t like the way we change our clocks twice a year. What could he or she do to improve this in the future? I suppose she2 could move to a place that doesn’t change their clocks. That seems like a lot of work for something that only happens twice a year. Even so, if she really hates time changes, that is an option.
If the respondent doesn’t hate time changes enough to make such a drastic change as moving to a new place, what else could she do to make this a less stressful event in the future? The simplest (but not easiest) thing is to focus on what she does want rather than what she doesn’t.
Using what we’ve learned previously at Primrose Ponderings about focusing on what we do like and on finding gratitude in every situation, she could ask a question that will cause her to focus on something better: What is positive about time changes?3
“One thing I would change is definitely the job I took this year—I would have made a different choice.”
Since this respondent can’t go back in time, how might she put a happier spin on this regret?
She could begin by identifying specifically what she doesn’t like about the job she currently has. She could also identify what she thinks a job she might have taken instead has that she wants. Put together, these bits of information could lead her to keep her eye out for a job that would be more to her liking or she might realize that her current job isn’t that bad, after all.
“I’d like to not miss any book club meetings.”
It’s not clear whether this respondent is suggesting that she didn’t miss any meetings and would like to repeat that or whether she did and would like to prevent that. Let’s assume the latter.
In order to maximize her happiness, this respondent needs to rephrase her statement in the positive: “I would like to attend all of my book club meetings.” That might seem like a minor tweak, but it’s important because it allows me to reiterate my point about actionability:
Your answer needs to be something that you have the ability to change.
Toward this end, the statement needs to be unambiguous so you can clearly discern what you need to do. In this case, the respondent could decide to make it a priority to attend every book club meeting she can.
“I would like to not get COVID (I had it twice in 2024!).”
In a similar fashion to the previous statement, how might we turn this wish to not repeat getting Covid into an actionable statement that she can clearly accomplish?
The answer depends on what she believes will work to prevent her from getting Covid again, but I'll offer thoughts on what I would do if this were my situation. Here are some possible rewrites:
“I would like to eat healthier, get more rest, and exercise more.”
“I would like to more consistent in taking vitamin C, vitamin D, and other supplements.”
“I would like to explore ways to improve my health so if I am exposed to Covid, I will not catch it again.”
Your list could be quite different than mine and that’s OK. The point is for you to come up with actionable items that are simple (if not easy) to do.
This particular statement brings up another important point when we are trying to maximize our happiness: Sometimes we cannot prevent undesirable things from happening. Despite her best efforts, this woman may get Covid again. We should do what we can, but we must also realize that some things are not within our control.
There is one final statement from this article that I assume was written tongue-in-cheek: “I want to make more money back on my Costco Reward Certificate.” For those who aren’t familiar with how Costco’s Reward Certificates work, what this person is essentially saying is that he/she wants to spend more money at Costco in the upcoming year.
I’m not saying that spending more money at Costco isn’t a “good” goal, but in terms of happiness, I’d say that would probably make the Costco CEO happier than it would make this respondent. ;)
Did you enjoy my analysis of these answers? Did my discussion lead you to re-evaluate your own answers?
My analysis of these answers is not meant to be critical. All of the answers are appropriate for the purpose of the magazine and for engaging with its readers. My analysis is only meant to get you thinking more about how to approach questions like this one so you can make choices that maximize your happiness and well-being in the future.4
While it may seem like a lot of work to review our past year and to find ways to repeat our positive experiences and minimize our negative ones, if you are committed to being happier and healthier there is definitely “work” involved. You may not enjoy the work at first, but perhaps at some point you will be like me, finding inspiration in very unexpected places — like a magazine from Costco! :)
Costco Connection is the name of the print publication that is sent to current Costco members.
I don’t know if a man or woman wrote this, so for ease of discussion, I’ll assume it’s a woman.
I’ll leave this as an exercise for you. It’s not an easy one for some of us! :)
I like Costco for a lot of reasons, but it’s not the place I go to learn how to maximize my happiness! ;)